Taking Control
by Gregorypeck205
Summary: Tim has had a very enlightening weekend. He is determined to take control of his life, both professional and personal. He will Take Control. Rated M just to be on the safe side.


**Taking Control Adventure Series!**

 **I'm starting a new 'Taking Control Adventure Series'. They will be complete one shot stories that have a continuing story line. The series will feature a more assertive Tim and of course a budding romance with Ziva.**

 **Disclaimer 1: For those of you following my other series, no worries, I have not abandoned them. I hate when people do that. I guarantee they will be completed.**

 **Disclaimer 2: I rarely, if ever, write cannon. I write how the story takes me.**

 **Disclaimer 3: I don't own NCIS or any of their characters. To clarify, I OWN NOTHIG.**

 **Taking Control!**

After a long and thought provoking weekend, Special Agent Timothy McGee has come to a decision. He was going to take control of his life. He was going to live life his way. He was going to enjoy life. After all, he was a graduate of MIT and John Hopkins, a Federal Agent, a bestselling author, was a master in two different martial arts, trained with the marines in the mornings, was part of the top MCRT at NCIS and could hack just about any network system without anyone knowing it. He knew he was no Dinozzo but he thought he looked ok (he had no idea women thought he was gorgeous). More important than all of these accomplishments, was the unrestrictive love given to him by his baby sister. Unlike most big brothers who were to busy for their little sisters, Tim had been just the opposite. He adored his little sister and the fact that he had practically raised her had only strengthened their bond. She was his inspiration. He would start doing all the things he liked to do and try the things the he had always wanted to try. He would no longer do things he did not want to do and would no longer be anyone's patsy. He would continue to strive to be the best agent any agency had ever seen. Yes, it was time for Tim McGee to live life on his terms and be happy.

As usual, Tim was the first one in on Monday morning. What was unusual was he had come in even earlier than he normally did. He was anxious and excited to get his new life started. He set his coffee down and started the process of booting up his computer. While his computer was booting up, he went and unlocked the cold case file cabinet and took out about 20 cold case files to get started with his day. After the decision he had come to over the weekend, he felt energized and ready to rededicate and focus on every aspect of his job and career as well as his personal life. When his computer was ready, he opened the first cold case file and got to work. Tim had gotten through 10 of his cold case files when Tony and Ziva stepped off the elevator. Tim gathered up his notes from the 10 cases along with his list of witnesses to interview and possible suspects.

"Good Morning McGee" Ziva greeted him.

"Hey Probie, what you do, sleep here" Tony asked?

"Good Morning Ziva, Tony." Tim ignored the ridiculous question and went back to gathering up his information.

"I'm going for coffee and when I return I will regale you two with my amazing weekend," Tony announced as he left the room.

"Ziva, do you have anything going on this morning," Tim asked?

"No McGee, just working on cold cases. Why do you ask?"

"I have some Persons of Interest I need to interview regarding some cold cases I'm working on and according to NCIS regulations; I have to have a partner with me when I go to pick them up. Would you mind going with me?"

"No McGee, I would not mind at all. When do we leave?"

"Right now, that way we don't have to listen to Tony's over exaggerated weekend exploits when he returns" Tim said smiling.

Ziva got a little smirk on her face. "I like your plan McGee. I do not think I could listen to Tony rumble on this morning."

Smiling, Tim corrected Ziva "ramble Ziva, you could not listen to Tony ramble on."

Smiling back at Tim, she said "yes, that too."

As Tony returned to the bull pen with his coffee, Ziva and Tim were grabbing their guns and backpacks.

"Heeeey, where are you guys going? Did we catch a case?"

"No Tony, I found some new information in some cold cases and Ziva is going with me to question possible suspects. Please let boss know when he comes in." With that, Ziva and Tim were in the elevator and headed down to get an agency car.

Half an hour later, Gibbs came in with his usual cup of coffee to see Tony sitting at his desk pretending to work.

"Dinozzo, where are David and McGee" Gibbs asked?

Tony jumped up as he had not seen or heard Gibbs come in.

"Uh boss, Probie had a couple of POI's on some of his cold cases and took Ziva with him to question them."

"What do you mean he had some POI's? It's only 0830 and duty starts at 0730. He hasn't had enough time to go through any cold cases."

"Well boss, Ziva and I arrived here at 0730 and Probie already had a stack of cold cases on his desk and going by the notes he had attached to some of the cold cases, he had been here for a while."

Gibbs thought about what Tony had said and was wondering what time McGee had come in this morning. He looked over at McGee's desk and saw that he did have quite a few cold case files on his desk. He just couldn't figure out what McGee was up to and it was bugging him. He was getting upset and couldn't figure out why he was upset. He sat at his desk thinking about this for another 30 minutes before he couldn't take it anymore.

"Tony, Call McGee." Gibbs snapped at his SFA.

"On it Boss!"

As Tony picked up the phone to make the call, Ziva and Tim came in with two men in handcuffs. One was in an expensive suit while the other one looked like he had just gotten out of bed since he was still in his pajamas. Tony put the phone down and took a closer look at the guy in the pajamas. It looked like his right eye was starting to swell and turn colors.

"Ziva, I'll put mine in interrogation room 2, you put yours in interrogation room 1" Tim instructed.

"Ok McGee" Ziva responded.

"Who's that," Tony asked?

As Tim had already marched his suspect down the hall, Ziva answered Tony.

"This is Zachary Morris and the one McGee has is Boris Randall."

"What did they do?"

"Boris killed his brother and set it up to make it look like his wife did it and Zachary here is the lawyer of the deceased."

"I don't understand; why is he in handcuffs" Tony asked confused?

"He helped Boris do it but you will have to get McGee to explain the details to you"

"I noticed the other guy was starting to develop quite a shiner. Did he try to get frisky with you Ninja girl and you used your Ninja skills on him" Tony asked with glee?

"No, he was sneaking up behind me with a knife when McGee pulled me out of harm's way and punched him."

Ziva then left to put her suspect in interrogation room 1 as Tim had asked.

Tony sat there with his mouth open trying to comprehend what Ziva had just told him. Probie had given the guy that shiner. Probie had saved Ziva. Probie who couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag had done this. Since Tony still thought of Tim as the same stuttering green probational agent that had joined the MCRT eight years ago, he could not wrap his mind around the fact that Tim was now an exceptional field agent as well as an exceptional computer programmer.

Gibbs had been sitting quietly as Ziva explained the events to the senior field agent. He was also struggling to come to terms with his young field agent's actions.

Tim came back into the bull pen and started typing up his notes on the capture of the two suspects.

"McGee, Report" Gibbs bellowed!

"If its ok with you boss, I'd like to wait for Ziva. It will be easier to update everyone at the same time and keep me from having to go over it more than once" Tim stated calmly.

Gibbs started turning purple in the face and Tony was staring at Tim with his mouth open.

When Ziva returned, Tim calmly went over to the plasma and picked up the clicker. He went over what he had found in the cold case files and how he was able to connect it to the two men. He explained how he had to dig deep to find the original will which had the brother as the beneficiary if anything happened to the wife.

Tony now spoke up.

"Hey, I remember that case. The will stipulated that the beneficiary would not be disclosed. And how does the lawyer play into this?"

"You're right about the stipulation Tony, the will that the lawyer executed did say that but that was not the original will. The lawyer, Mr. Zachary Morris, changed the will, added that stipulation and forged the signature."

"But why would he do that" Ziva asked?

"Because if the agent investigating the case had known the identity of the other beneficiary, one Boris Randall, that would have immediately made him a suspect. Since the wife and the brother hated each other, there was no way they collaborated together to kill Petty Officer Baron Randall."

"I'm confused" Tony said.

"I am also confused" Ziva said.

"McGee, are you going to tell us how this all fits together or did you just randomly pick people to bring in and accuse them of murder" Gibbs bellowed once again.

By this time, Director Vance, who had been watching the proceedings had come down the stairs and was also interested on how Tim had put this together. Unlike Gibbs, Vance had no qualms whatsoever that McGee had solved this cold case and solved it in a way that it would be solid. He was just interested in what everyone else had missed that his young genius had not.

McGee, who would normally get flustered with Gibbs yelling at him and Tony snickering in the background, felt no nervousness or anxiety. He calmly resumed explaining how he pieced together the clues in this cold case.

"The bottom line is the lawyer changed the will and put in that stipulation about the beneficiary being kept secret. After the secret beneficiary received the money, he split it with the lawyer."

"Military member's life insurance is only $100,000. Gibbs stated. Why go through all that trouble for $50,000 each."

"Aahhhh, But that's what the lawyer wanted you to think. No one knew that Baron was also an award winning bestselling author, not even his wife, brother or lawyer. He was worth over a million dollars. When the lawyer saw how much he was leaving to his wife in his life insurance, that's when he started coming up with a scheme to steal it."

"But he was the wife's lawyer and got her off" Tony said.

"Yes he did, but not by a not guilty verdict which needed to be the case for her to collect the insurance. Since the stipulation of the will stated she could not collect the insurance if there was a shadow of a doubt she had anything to do with his demise. The mistrial makes it look like the wife is the guilty one but was able to get off on a technicality. A mistrial casts a shadow of a doubt since it is not a 'not guilty' verdict so the money went to the unknown beneficiary. The brother got nothing since he was not even mentioned in the will. The lawyer looks like the hero, defending his client's wife to the end even though he would receive nothing in return."

"Agent McGee, how did you put that together," Director Vance asked?

"Just like the military, federal agent's life insurance is not a lot. I have a separate insurance policy for my sister which is funded through the proceeds from my book sells. If you all didn't already know about me being an author, you would think my only income is from my federal salary. This is why I started digging deeper into the cyber side of the case. The lawyer might have been able to change, destroy and hide all physical evidence but not in the cyber world. I didn't know it was the brother and the lawyer until I found the original will which had his brother as the beneficiary if anything happened to the wife. Even though the Petty Officer loved his brother, Boris was jealous that his younger brother had a gorgeous wife who loved him and was steadily climbing in rank in the military. Once I uncovered the will, I went back over the case and was able to put the clues and evidence together and get a picture of what had happened. Even though both the lawyer and the brother played it cool and did not make big purchases that would draw attention to them, every now and then they slipped up and made purchases that could not be explained with the amount of money they made."

The bullpen was totally quiet as Tim finished his verbal report.

Finally the Director said,

"Well done agent McGee. Well done. That is first rate investigative work. Keep up the good work agent McGee" Vance stated as he went back upstairs to his office.

"Boss, here are my notes. Could you and Tony do the interrogation? Ziva and I still have some POI's to pick up on the other cold cases I'm working on and I need to pick them up this morning as I have witnesses coming in this afternoon on other cold cases" Tim requested.

After a moment, Gibbs was able to function again and responded to Tim.

"Yeah McGee, Dinozzo and I will handle the interrogation."

"Thanks boss, let's go Ziva."

And just like that, Ziva and Tim were off again while Gibbs and Tony were still trying to understand how McGee put all that together even after hearing him explain how he did it.

As Tim and Ziva were leaving, some of the other agents came up to Tim congratulating him on a great job with that particular cold case. It seems the whole bull pen had stopped to listen when they heard Tim explaining the case.

When they were in the car driving to their next destination, Ziva turned to Tim with a big smile on her face and said,

"Tim, that was incredible. I would never have been able to do what you did on that case."

"I don't know Ziva; you are a very sharp investigator. I have always been impressed with the way your mind works."

"Thank you Timothy that is very kind of you to say," Ziva said blushing. "I also want to thank you for protecting me when the suspect was sneaking up behind me."

Tim felt a thrill go through him at the use of his first name.

"There is no need to thank me Ziva. If he was sneaking up behind me, you would have done the exact same thing. You probably would have broken a few of his bones in the process," Tim said smiling at her.

Ziva laughed and it went like a bolt of lightning through Tim. He knew that no matter what, he would have to hear her laugh like that over and over again.

"You are right Timothy, I would have broken bones if he had dared to threaten you", Ziva said again smiling at Tim.

They chattered the whole way to their next destination and did not even realize they had arrived already. Tim gave Ziva a quick rundown on this particular cold case and who they were looking for. This time they were able to apprehend their suspect without violence. It was almost as if he had been waiting for them to realize he was guilty and come and get him.

Ziva and Tim again came into the bullpen with their suspect in handcuffs. Director Vance had been explaining something to his assistant when he looked down and saw Agents David and McGee bringing in another suspect. Vance just smiled as he saw agent McGee starting to shine as he should have years ago.

Tim asked Ziva to put him in interrogation room 3 while he started typing up his notes. As Ziva was taking the suspect to interrogation, Gibbs and Tony were coming out to the bullpen after interrogating the earlier suspects.

"Who is he" Tony asked?

"This is Henry Bullock, the perpetrator in another one of McGee's cold cases" Ziva replied.

Gibbs and Tony stood there watching as Ziva took the Perp to interrogation room three.

As Tim finished his notes, he got up to join Ziva. He saw Gibbs and Tony coming into the bullpen and walked over to them.

"Boss, Ziva and I are getting ready to interrogate Henry Bullock. This is the cold case of the missing sailor, Petty Officer Malcolm Black. He has already confessed to killing him but we want to try to get him to tell us where to find the remains of the Petty Officer. I think having his remains would go a long way in helping his family heal. They will be able to give him a proper burial and maybe receive some closure" Tim said sadly.

Gibbs was surprised by McGee's statement. He wasn't surprised that McGee could empathize with the family. He was surprised at how deeply McGee felt for a family he had never met.

"Ok McGee, Tony and I will put the results of our interrogation on your desk so you can finish your report on that case."

"Thanks Boss' he acknowledge as headed back to join Ziva in interrogations.

Ziva and Tim were successful in getting Henry to tell them where he had hid the body. Gibbs was getting coffee when they headed out to see if the body was where Henry said it was. After locating the body, Tim called Ducky so he and Palmer could come get the remains. Tim and Ziva closed off the area and put up police tape as this was now a crime scene. Since it was an old cold case, there was no evidence that could be collected so they took pictures and had the local LEO's secure the crime scene and protect their ME's while they collected the remains of the Petty Officer.

Tim called Gibbs "Yeah, Gibbs!"

"Boss, we found what's left of Petty Officer Malcolm Black. Ducky and Jimmy are already on the scene collecting the remains. There was no evidence to collect but we did take pictures and have the area secured by the local LEO's. Ziva and I are headed over to Arlington to see if we can snatch up a suspect on another cold case."

Gibbs stared at the phone as though it had turned into a snake. Tim was out doing field work, no, outstanding field work as though he had been doing it all his life. He was making all the right calls out in the field and reporting back to his team leader just as he was supposed to do. He had already closed to 2 cold cases this morning alone and was on the trail of another suspect for another cold case. Gibbs finally realized McGee was still on the phone waiting for a response from him.

"Yeah, that's good McGee. Keep me updated."

"Ok Boss." Before Tim disconnected, Gibbs could hear him call out "Hey Ziva, let's go."

Gibbs put the phone down as McGee had finally disconnected the call. He sat at his desk wondering what had gotten into his young agent. McGee had arrived at work early and had been going nonstop since. What amazed Gibbs was he wasn't just doing computer work but was doing good effective field work. He was finding clues, following those clues with good investigative research, finding and interrogating suspects and closing cases. Gibbs wondered where he had learned to do all this because he knew it wasn't from him. He was disgusted with himself. He had kept McGee chained to a desk wasting his talents.

"Where are we heading now Timothy" Ziva asked?

"To lunch" Tim answered with a smile. "We have been going hard all day and I have not thought to stop and refuel my partner so she could keep her energy up."

Ziva laughed at his silliness. It was amazing how much she laughed when she was with McGee. He just made her feel good. She had noticed that over the past couple of months, she had started looking at Timothy differently. Instead of looking at him and seeing a computer genius, she had started looking at him and seeing a handsome man. She also had become obsessed with his lips. Images of him kissing here would just pop into her head for no reason. She thought he had such kissable lips.

"Ziva" Tim repeated for the third time in a slightly louder voice.

"Huh, oh, I mean, yes McGee" Ziva stuttered blushing after being caught day dreaming.

Tim chuckle which, after a moment, Ziva also started chuckling.

"I asked if Italian was ok with you for lunch," Tim said still smiling.

"Yes Timothy, Italian will be satisfactory."

They spent an hour over lunch chatting away while enjoying their Italian meals. Tim had chosen a restaurant he had eaten in before so he knew the food would be good, which it was. Tim paid the tab over Ziva protest. As they walked to the car, Tim started filling Ziva in on what they were doing next.

"We're going over to Arlington to see if we can pick up a suspect on another cold case." Tim went on to explain the case and how he had come upon this particular person as a suspect.

Ziva was having fun. She was doing what she loved to do which was investigating and busting bad guys. She was doing it with a partner she enjoyed being with. A partner she found to be a thorough investigator. And most of all, she had noticed that when they were in the field, Timothy eyes were always moving taking in his surroundings, the people and any movement. He only spoke of the case they were working on and how they might proceed next. He never spoke of anything personal or that was not about the case. Unlike Dinozzo who was always yapping about nonsense.

Ziva was turned toward Tim as he drove and smiling at him as he went over the case with her. She realized she enjoyed hearing him speak. She asked a few questions which he answered and again, before she knew it, they were at their destination.

As Ziva went to get out of the car, Tim stopped her. The place was an old farm looking house and Tim did not like the set up. He put the car in reverse while telling Ziva to call the local Sherriff's office for back up. While she was doing that he called Gibbs.

"Yeah Gibbs"

"Hey Boss, we are at the place of the suspect but the setting is all wrong" Tim stated.

"What do you mean?" Gibbs was already up and moving grabbing his gun and motioning for Tony to do the same.

"It's made to look like an innocent farm house but there are too many things that make it look like they were placed the way they are. It's not natural" Tim explained.

"Where are you"? By this time Gibbs and Tony were in the car and roaring out of the navy yard. Gibbs had given his phone to Tony and told him to put it on speaker.

"I've sent the address to both your phones and had Ziva call the local Sherriff's office for back up."

"Good, don't go in until we get there."

"Ok Boss, we backed up to a safe spot away from the house and ZIVA, GET DOWN!" Tim had kept his eyes moving not only around the house but around the surrounding area also and that saved him and Ziva. Out the corner of his eye, he saw the sun glint off of something shining up on the side of the hill. He immediately put the car in reverse and mashed on the gas as he yelled at Ziva to get down as gun shots rang out from both sides of the hill.

"MCGEE, MCGEE" Gibbs yelled. Now Gibbs had the pedal floored as he weaved in and out of traffic trying desperately to get to his agents.

Tim had managed to get the vehicle out of the cross fire but they had hit the engine so the car stalled and died with steam coming from under the hood. Both Tim and Ziva got out of the car with their weapons drawn while leaving their doors open for cover and looking around for any sign of movement. Remembering that they had checked out an agency vehicle Tim told Ziva to cover him and reminded her to stay concealed because they probably had scopes.

Tim popped the trunk and crawled to the back of the car. He took out the two rifles with scopes, two Kevlar vests, extra rounds of ammunition for the rifles and their sigs, two walkie talkies, two NCIS Jackets, two knives and a bag which had medical supplies, rations for two for 5 days. He crawled back to the driver's side of the car and passed over to Ziva one Kevlar vest, one jacket, one rifle, one walkie talkie and ammo for the rifle and her sig. Tim saved the best for last. Smiling, Tim handed over one of the knives. He smiled because he knew they both already had knives hidden on their bodies but you can never have too many knives.

Ziva smiled back at Tim as she took the knife knowing what he was thinking as she was thinking the exact same thing.

"Ziva, we're sitting ducks out in the open like this. Boss has the address and is on his way but if they decide to close in on us with guns blazing, we won't stand a chance."

"I agree Timothy."

"We are going to have to make a run for those trees over there. If we can get into the woods we can turn this thing around and go from being the hunted to being the hunters."

Ziva smiled, she liked the way Tim's mind worked. She hated running from a fight. He had not suggested that they run to get away but to get to a better position before turning the tables on these mongrels that had ambushed them. Yes, she really liked this plan.

Tim called Gibbs and with the phone on speaker, placed it on the seat between him and Ziva.

Tony answered and put the phone on speaker

"PROBIE, ARE YOU GUYS ALL RIGHT" Tony shouted?

"Yeah Tony, we're fine but they killed the engine and we are caught out in the open. We're sitting ducks if we stay here so we are going to make for the woods. This will be the last time we use the phones as we don't know if they have the ability to track the GPS in the phones. We have walkie talkies and we will use the frequency codes you and I talked about starting at 1100 hrs. Tell boss they are not only in the house but up in the hills so don't come straight in. We couldn't tell how many they have in the hills since we were busy ducking bullets but at least two since shots came at us from both sides. They have heavy artillery so wear your Kevlar. The natives are getting restless so I'm going to sign off now."

"MCGEE, you listen to me very carefully. If you or David gets shot, I will not be happy about it. Do you understand me" Gibbs growled?

"Yeah Boss, got it. If me or Ziva gets shot, you will not be happy. I just don't understand how we're supposed to tell the difference between your 'normal not happy self' and your 'we got shot not happy self'."

Tony snickered and they could hear Ziva in the background laughing before the call was terminated. Gibbs was trying hard to suppress the smile that was threatening to come out.

"Dinozzo, knock it off" Gibbs said still trying to hold his smile in.

"Knocking it off Boss", Tony answered but was aware the boss had actually relaxed a little at Probie's comment. It showed that contrary to what they thought, McGee was not panicking but was calm, cool and in control.

"Ziva, they made a mistake," Tim stated.

"What mistake" she replied?

"They killed the engine but they did not shoot out the tires. We are on a slight incline. We can put the car in neutral and push it back so we will still have some cover" he said.

"Timothy, you are a genius."

"Ok Ziva, since we are on separate sides of the car, we won't run for the same entrance into the woods. You run to the closest trees to you and I'll do the same. We'll meet up in the woods later. Every 15 minutes we will change frequencies. There are 24 frequencies. We will start on frequency 2 alternate down and up on evens and then switch to odds and do the same like so. 2 - 15 mins, 24 -15 mins, 4 – 15 mins, 22 15 mins. Let's synchronize watches now."

"But Tim, we have phones with the time" Ziva exclaimed.

"Two things about phones Ziva; one, they have GPS and can be traced, two the battery will only last so long", he explained.

Ziva felt like an idiot. 2 simple things and yet they had not even crossed her mind.

Tim looked at her face and could see she was angry that she had not thought of those 2 things.

"Ziva, crawl into the car for a minute", Tim requested.

Ziva did as she was instructed, Tim did the same. They were almost nose to nose.

"Ziva, you are the most courageous person I have ever met. I am in awe of you. You have lost so much in your life yet you continue on. I can come into work and do my best day after day because you inspire me. I have such strong feelings for you and I know we will survive this because I am determined to show you just how much you mean to me. I understand you may not feel the same and that's ok. But you will always know there is someone who loves you for you. Not because you are a beautiful woman which you are but because you are just as beautiful inside as out."

Tim then kissed Ziva with a passion that stunned her. When he ended the kiss, he started to move out of the car but Ziva stopped him by taking his face in her hands and pulling him back toward her. She kissed him hard trying to convey all the love she had for this wonderful man. After she pulled back, she looked into his eyes and said

"Timothy, I am not good with feelings. I do have feelings for you but I do not know what they are or if I want to pursue them. You make me want to pursue them. "

"Don't worry Ziva, I won't push you. I am a very patient man. When I feel there is something worth waiting for, I can patiently wait for a long time. That does not mean I will be idle. I will commence to woo you," he said smiling.

Ziva smiled at this while looking into those green pools to his soul and said "Well Timothy, I would not like to be the one to get in the way of your wooing so woo away."

They smiled at each other and a gunshot through the windshield reminded them that they had picked a hell of a place to make goo goo eyes at each other. With grim determination, they gathered all there items and put them on the seat so they would be easy to grab when they made a dash for the woods.

"Ziva"

"Yes Tim"

"We are going to push to get as close to the trees as possible but if they shoot any of the tires before we get there, that's our signal to take off for the trees."

"Understood"

"Ok, let's go"

Tim put the car in neutral and they started pushing. The car started off slow but started to pick up a little speed as it rolled down the incline. Their unknown assailants saw what they were doing and started shooting at the car. They had actually gotten closer to the tree line than Tim thought they would when their luck ran out and a tire was hit. Wasting no time, they grab the items on the seat and took off in opposite directions. Running in opposite direction seemed to have confused the snipers just long enough for both agents to reach the trees. Once under cover they immediately headed toward one another. When they met up, they look each other over to make sure they had not been hit. Once they assured themselves they were ok, they started planning how they were going to turn the tables if the idiots were foolish enough to follow two highly trained Federal agents into the woods.

As it turned out, the goons weren't that stupid. They were in process of packing up to hotfoot it out of the area when Gibbs, the marines and the local LEO's arrived from every direction with armed military helicopters hovering over the hills. The end was anticlimactic as the assailants look around and determined they were either leaving in handcuffs or body bags. They all chose handcuffs.

Tim and Ziva had been watching from the trees but would not come out until the area was secure. As they watched the crooks get rounded up, they saw Gibbs and Dinozzo racing toward their car shouting their names. They looked at each other smiling and walked out of the trees with rifles in hand. Gibbs and Dinozzo skidded to a stop in front of the two agents giving them a quick once over checking for injuries.

Smiling, Tim said "We're ok boss but we could use a lift back to the Navy Yard."

Gibbs turned around and headed back toward the car before they could see the relief on his face that his two youngest kids were safe and injury free.

"Come on, let's get out of here" Gibbs barked.

The three agents smiled at each other, not being fooled for a minute by their boss as they turned to follow him.

"So Probie, when we get back you are definitely going to have tell the story on how you figured out the place was a setup" Dinozzo stated as he put an arm around Tim.

They were all in the car headed back to the Navy Yard with Gibbs driving at a much slower pace, Tony in the front seat turned looking at his partners and Tim and Ziva in the back seat. It was a quiet ride as everyone was coming down from the adrenaline rush. Looking in the rearview mirror at his boss, Tim spoke up.

"Boss, are you ok" he asked?

Gibbs looked at his young agent in the review mirror before answering.

"Yeah McGee, I'm ok" Gibbs answered.

"Probie, you two were the ones running all over the DMV today, getting into fist fights and gunfights. Why would you ask the boss if he is ok" Tony queried.

Looking at Ziva with a smirk on his face, Tim answered.

"Well Tony, Ziva and I followed bosses instructions and did not get shot but his 'I'm ok' face looks exactly like his 'I'm pissed off' face.

There was absolutely quiet in the car as Tony turned from looking at Tim to look at Gibbs and promptly lost it. Ziva who had put a hand up to her mouth could not contain it either and joined Tony. Tim had been trying his best to hold it in but failed miserably and before you knew it, the car with was filled with laughter from the three agents. It took all of Gibbs training not to join them but he could not keep the smile off of his face. He would never let them know it but this is what he lived for. His family was together, safe and happy.


End file.
